Embodiments of the invention generally relate to radiation detection, and more particularly radiation detection pixel signal routing to reduce system dead time.
Generally, optoelectronic devices convert optical energy into electrical energy. In some applications, this energy, or radiation, is detected using an array of optoelectronic sensors dispersed over the surface of a detection device. Signals from individual “pixels,” or detectors, are routed to analog-to-digital converters (ADC) of the detection device. The digital signals are subsequently processed, for example with a processor, to determine suitable information from incident radiation.
Generally, in a multiple pixel detector configuration, in order to achieve the best signal to noise ratio, each pixel requires its own preamplifier, shaping amplifier, peak/hold circuit, and other analog components. But in order to reduce the overall power consumption and the processor chip size, it is not necessary/desired to have one ADC for each channel. Different types of multiplex schemes are usually used to share one ADC by multiple channels. In the event that there are multiple pixels that have signal amplitude above a trigger threshold, the ADC has to digitize the signals from these pixels one by one. Thus the dead time from the ADC will increase linearly as the number of the triggered pixels increase.
Thus, example embodiments of the present invention provide novel signal routing schemes and radiation detection apparatuses which overcome these drawbacks.